Symmetry and beauty are often claimed to be linked, however over the years, artists have discovered that the less predictable beauty in asymmetry results in a more interesting piece of art. American artist James McNeill Whistler’s “The Artist’s Mother” is often used as a prime example of how imbalance can improve a composition, while Andy Warhol’s famous “Marilyn Diptych”, a work consisting of two panels, is argued by art critics as one of the best pieces he ever created. Corey Helford Gallery in Los Angeles noticed the influence of these visual concepts and asked artists to combine them, resulting in the “Asymmetrical Diptych Group Show”. The show opened over the weekend adjacent to their new solo offering by Josh Agle aka Shag, reviewed on our blog yesterday, and Hikari Shimida’s “Recycling Humanity.”

Kent Williams

Participating in the show are 26 artists who take into account the importance of design in their work in different ways, emphasized by the act of splitting their images into two parts. Kent Williams (HF Vol. 21), for instance, loosely explores asymmetry in the way he composes his representational and abstract paintings, a style he describes as “both real and unreal”. His portrait for the exhibit depicts fellow participant Soey Milk perched on a stool in the artist’s studio- simplified into an abstract space in the diptych’s left-hand side attachment that allows the viewer to further explore the subject’s surroundings. Other artists like Swedish artist Mikael Takacs use the concept of asymmetry to offer a more well-rounded view of their subjects, as in his two-sided portrait. His two paintings, featuring mesmerizing marbling effects, depict a distorted person in a purple and burgundy color scheme, and the eyes appear to be doubled. Take a look at these works and more from “Asymmetrical Diptych Group Show” below, on view through February 13th, 2016.